Anti-spammers petition European Parliament

Spam &c...

Anti-spam campaigners took their fight to the European Parliament today handing in two petitions ahead of this week’s crucial vote by the Eurocrats. The European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA) and leading German computer title c’t magazine have both become focal points for support against the legalisation of junk e-mail in Europe. EuroISPA -- which represents more than 500 Internet providers across Europe -- presented a petition signed by national ISPs. c’t magazine conducted an online petition amassing the digital signatures of almost 24,000 Net users voicing their concerns against spam. Both petitions are timed to coincide with this week’s vote in the Legal Affairs Committee on the draft directive on Certain Legal Aspects of Electronic Commerce. EuroISPA and c’t magazine are confident that MEPs will take stock of the arguments put forward and vote for an opt-in system for unsolicited commercial communications. "This is a fantastic coming together of industry and consumers," said Jean-Christophe Le Toquin from EuroISPA. "It sends out an overwhelming signal to MEPs that neither industry nor consumers want spam legalised or legitimised," he said. Legislation currently being considered by the EU is calling for all spam to be clearly labelled so that people can see immediately what is bona fide e-mail and what is an unsolicited piece of e-mail. By taking this approach the EU will, in effect, be legalising spam. ®